1 • INTRODUCTION

The Asmat are a Melanesian people who live within the Indonesian
province of Irian Jaya. They are widely known for the quality of their
wood sculptures. They are also notorious for their traditional practices
of headhunting and cannibalism. These Asmat practices have been linked
to the unsolved 1961 disappearance of the twenty-three-year-old son of
former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, who was touring the region
to collect native artwork.

The Asmat's first European contact was with the Dutch in 1623.
For many years the group had few outside visitors due to their fearsome
reputation. The Dutch began to settle the Asmat area in the 1920s,
bringing
in the first Catholic missionaries. Contact with the West has expanded
steadily since the 1950s, and traditional Asmat warfare and
cannibalistic practices have declined.

2 • LOCATION

The Asmat are a coastal people occupying a low-lying swampy region.
Their homeland covers approximately 9,652 square miles (25,000 square
kilometers) in southwestern Irian Jaya. The swamps include sago palms,
mangroves, and patches of tropical rain forest. The Asmat population is
estimated at about 65,000 people, living in villages with populations of
up to 2,000.

3 • LANGUAGE

The Asmat languages belong to the Papuan language family known as
Asmat-Kamoro, which has over 50,000 speakers. Due to missionary work in
the region, the central Asmat now have a written form of their spoken
language. A form of Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of the
Republic of Indonesia, is spoken by many Asmat men.

4 • FOLKLORE

Many Asmat myths are about their head-hunting tradition. According to
one myth, two brothers were the original inhabitants of the Asmat
region. The older brother convinced the younger brother to cut off the
older brother's head. Then the decapitated head of the older
brother instructed the younger one about headhunting, including how to
use decapitated heads in initiation rituals for young males.

5 • RELIGION

Before Christianity was introduced to their region, the Asmat practiced
a native religion involving spirit worship and fear of the ghosts of the
dead. It was believed that most deaths were deliberately caused by evil
forces. The ancestral spirits were said to demand that wrongful deaths
be avenged by killing and decapitating an enemy. The person's
body was then offered to the community for cannibalistic consumption.

Missionary activity has introduced Christianity into the Asmat area.

6 • MAJOR HOLIDAYS

In traditional Asmat societies, there were elaborate cycles of
ceremonial feasting throughout the year. Feasts that celebrate deceased
kinfolk are still very important celebrations. In the past, most
feasting events were associated with raiding and headhunting.

Asmat who have embraced Christianity celebrate the major Christian
holidays. Although Islam is the major religion of Indonesia, it not
practiced among the Asmat population.

7 • RITES OF PASSAGE

Male initiation, although still practiced, has lost much of the
significance it held in pre-colonial Asmat society. Traditionally, each
initiate was given a decapitated head so that he could absorb the power
of the deceased warrior to whom the head had belonged. After being
plunged into the sea by the older men, the initiates were symbolically
reborn as warriors. Male initiation rites
among the Asmat no longer involve decapitation.

When a death occurs, family and friends of the deceased roll in the mud
of the riverbanks to hide their scent from the ghost of the deceased.
Ceremonies ensure that the ghost passes to the land of the dead,
referred to as "the other side." The skull of a
person's mother is often used as a pillow.

8 • RELATIONSHIPS

Little is known about everyday Asmat life. Currently Indonesia limits
the amount of time researchers may spend in Asmat country. Missionary
and government influence have effected social customs such as greetings
and other forms of etiquette.

9 • LIVING CONDITIONS

Asmat houses are elevated on stilts to prevent them from flooding during
the rainy season. Ordinary Asmat dwellings do not have running water or
electricity. Most houses have an outside porch area where people can
gather to gossip, smoke, or just watch their neighbors.

10 • FAMILY LIFE

Asmat society is divided into two halves called "moieties"
by anthropologists. Within a given village, a person is supposed to
marry someone who belongs to the opposite moiety. After the marriage,
the bride moves in with her husband's family. Extended families
occupy large houses built of bamboo, sago bark, and sago frond
thatching. Men sleep apart from their wives in the men's
longhouse
(yew).
Ceremonial activities that take place inside the men's house are
prohibited to women.

Wife beating was an accepted practice in the past. Unmarried women and
girls are still beaten by their fathers or brothers if their behavior is
considered unacceptable. A woman's property is transferred to her
husband at the time of marriage, and she loses control over it.

11 • CLOTHING

The Asmat traditionally have worn little or no clothing. Footwear is not
often owned. Due to missionaries and other outside influences, many
Asmat today wear Western-style clothing. The most popular attire is
rugby shorts for men and floral cotton dresses for women. Men may have
their noses pierced and wear wild pig or boar tusks. Both men and women
paint their bodies on ceremonial occasions.

12 • FOOD

Fish and the sago palm are the staple foods of all Asmat groups. Canned
meats and fish, as well as flour, tea, and sugar, have become important
food items as well. A butterfly larva often found in rotting tree
carcasses is an important ritual food considered a delicacy among the
Asmat.

13 • EDUCATION

Missionaries and colonial administrations have set up various schools in
the Asmat region. Schoolhouses have been built in the coastal Asmat
area.

14 • CULTURAL HERITAGE

Asmat drums have an hourglass shape and a single, lizard-skin-covered
head that is struck with the palm of the hand. The other hand is used to
hold the drum by a carved
handle. Although the Asmat regard drums as sacred objects, they do not
define instrumental sounds as music. Only singing is classified as music
in Asmat culture. Love songs and epic songs, which often take several
days to perform, are still important forms of expression.

Traditionally, dance was an important part of Asmat ceremonial life.
However, missionaries have discouraged it. The Asmat have a great deal
of oral literature, but no written tradition.

The Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress is collecting artifacts from
all areas of Asmat culture. It produces catalogues and other
publications on Asmat culture, mythology, and history.

15 • EMPLOYMENT

The Asmat are hunters and gatherers. They hunt crocodiles and other
animals, and they gather and process the pulp of the sago palm. Some
also grow vegetables or raise chickens. There is a traditional division
of labor along gender lines. Women are responsible for net fishing,
gathering, and other domestic tasks. Men are responsible for line and
weir (enclosure) fishing, hunting, gardening, and the felling of trees.
The
sale of woodcarvings to outsiders represents an additional source of
income.

16 • SPORTS

Traditionally, male competition among the Asmat was intense. This
competition centered on the demonstration of male prowess through
success in headhunting, acquiring fishing grounds and sago palm stands,
and gathering a number of feasting partners. Males still compete in
these areas, except headhunting which is now prohibited.

17 • RECREATION

The Asmat region of Irian Jaya is still very isolated. Western forms of
entertainment and recreation are not available.

18 • CRAFTS AND HOBBIES

Asmat art is highly valued by European and American art collectors. Much
of the Asmat artistic tradition is tied to the practice of headhunting.
Thus, since the prohibition of headhunting, the production of Asmat
artifacts has declined.

The central and coastal Asmat traditionally produced decorated shields,
spears, digging sticks, canoes, bows and arrows, and a wide range of
elaborate carvings. The most famous ritual carving of these groups is
the ancestor pole, or
bis.
These elaborate carved objects commemorate the deaths of those killed
in battle or by sorcery. They were erected during the feasts that
preceded headhunting raids to avenge those deaths.

19 • SOCIAL PROBLEMS

The Asmat are fighting to retain their traditional ways of life in the
face of pressure by Indonesian administrators. Many Asmat have converted
to Christianity and are being educated in Western-run schools. However,
they have been able to exercise some influence over government policy
regarding the use of their land.

User Contributions:

Thanks for the info. I'm doing a paper on the Asmat traditional culture and how it's changed. This was just what I was looking for. The only thing is that I was looking for more information on their religion, which I'll look for elsewhere.

First, thanks for the information, but I'm more concern about they culture level, I never been Irian Jaya before, But I'm doing some Research about Asmat culture and literature, I heard about asmat has their own Scribble words, but now has been replace by Indonesian's.

I really enjoyed reading about the Asmet tribe, I'm glad they are not head hunters anymore , but I hope they can keep a good deal of their culture. Their wood carvings are amazing. My husband and I with our teenage sonsI enjoyed three years in Indonesia, sailed to Saumluki (and ran aground) on the way back and the people there were just beautiful, we never made it to Irian Jaya, but I really wished we had now. Thank you so much for this informative publication. Linda

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